For Immediate Release:
Date here

For More Information:
Barbara Blaine of Chicago (SNAP founder and president) 312 399 4747
David Clohessy (SNAP National Director) 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915
Barbara Dorris (SNAP Outreach Director) 314 503 0003 cell, 314 862 7688

Giuliani is Target of Clergy Sex Abuse Victims’ Leafleting

They’re Upset Candidate Has Pedophile Priest on His Payroll

Cleric Is Accused of Molesting Kids & Covering Up For Other Molesters

Victims To Hand Out Fliers; They Urge Citizens to Call Rudy Saying “Fire Perp”

Group Also Wants Presidential Hopeful to “Explain & Apologize For His Recklessness”

What:
Clergy sex abuse victims will hand out fliers to passers-by urging them to call presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani.

The leaflets ask citizens to prod Giuliani to fire a suspended priest (Msgr. Alan Placa) who is accused of molesting three kids, covering up for other pedophile clergy, and advising other Catholic officials in 200 clergy child sex cases across the country.

When:
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 11:15 a.m.

Where:

On sidewalk outside Giuliani Partnership, 5 Times Square Plaza, (near W. 42nd & 7th Avenue) in New York City

Who:
Two-three clergy abuse survivors who are members of a support group called SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Chicago woman who is the organization’s founder.

Why:

As reported yesterday on ABC’s Good Morning America (and in the New York Times, Newsday, and numerous other sources), Giuliani still employs a suspended, credibly accused pedophile priest who was also harshly criticized by prosecutors for repeatedly and intentionally helping to hide clergy child sex crimes on Long Island.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3753385&page=1

A 2003 Suffolk County NY grand jury report accuses Fr. Alan Placa of sexually abusing children and helping “cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests” (according to Salon.com). He “was part of a three-person team that handled allegations of abuse by clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Centre” that “resulted in the prevention, hindrance and delay in the discovery of criminal conduct by priests." Despite this, as of June, Placa remains a consultant at Giuliani Partners. He’s also a lawyer. In 2002, Placa's bishop suspended him from active ministry. He's been on Giuliani's payroll since then.

Placa would later tell a reporter that he did not report allegations of abuse to law enforcement He also urged church staff to deceive victims, writing in one memo "Please do not identify me as an attorney [to complainants.]" He bragged of how Rockville Centre's handling of abuse claims had resulted in the "lowest ratio of losses to assets of any diocese” and that “In the past 10 years, I have been involved in more than two hundred such cases in various parts of the country." Placa also worked for a Worcester, Mass. Center for pedophile priests. According to the grand jury, several adults testified that they were molested as kids by Placa, including a man named Richard Tollner.

The grand jury heard from 97 witnesses over nine months, and uncovered "deception and intimidation" by diocesan officials. 

A 1985 New York Times story noted that Placa stayed over at Giuliani's apartment as often as once a week, where the two men would "talk poetry, theology and politics deep into the night."

SNAP’s flier asks citizens to call Giuliani and urge him to fire Placa, and explain and apologize for his recklessness. The ex-mayor insists that he feels Placa’s molested no one, so at a minimum, SNAP wants Giuliani to explain why he apparently believes that Suffolk County prosecutors and grand jury are wrong in their assessment that he helped cover up other clergy sex crimes.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2007/05_06/2007_06_22_Koppelman_GiulianisLoyalty.htm